There are few companies in the world that can build hype on the level of Marvel Studios, but nothing compares to what they did for Avengers: Infinity War. For the last three-plus years we've constantly been hearing that the blockbuster is the capstone film for every Marvel Cinematic Universe movie, and that sentiment has driven a ridiculous number of people into theaters. How many people, exactly? Enough for the feature to now be the record holder for biggest domestic and global opening of all time. Check out the numbers of the full top 10 below, and then join me after for analysis!
While Avengers: Infinity War has not yet made its debut in China (which will happen on May 11th), the blockbuster is still already off to the fastest start in history. The $250 million figure you see above was enough to help the film snag the domestic opening record from Star Wars: The Force Awakens - which made $248 million in its first three days - and in total the feature has thus far made $630 million globally. That's way more than enough to make it the biggest international opening of all time, as that label was previously held by The Fate of the Furious, which made $541.9 million when it came out last spring. In case it's not clear, these numbers are absolutely nuts.
Fans will remember that the original Avengers movie was the first ever title to make more than $200 million in a single weekend domestically, so it's fitting that Avengers: Infinity War be the first feature to break the $250 million barrier. At this pace, the movie should be the fastest to ever reach $1 billion, which is another record held by Star Wars: The Force Awakens, having met that milestone in just 12 days. Right now it's unclear where its final numbers will end, mostly because Deadpool 2 and Solo: A Star Wars Story will be coming out in just a few weeks, but there is no question that it will inevitably called one of the most successful films ever created.
Really the only downside of Avengers: Infinity War doing so well this weekend is that the rest of the Top 10 looks insanely lackluster by comparison. John Krasinski's A Quiet Place did decently, bringing its domestic total up to $148 million with a $10.7 million fourth weekend, but it was the only feature to make eight figures. Almost every other title faced a steep drop... with two exceptions. For starters, Abby Kohn and Marc Silverstein's I Feel Pretty starring Amy Schumer only dipped 49.3 percent in its second week, holding on to third place and bringing its gross total up to $29.6 million.
The other title is actually Marvel's first big 2018 release, as Black Panther seemed to benefit from the arrival of the new blockbuster. The Ryan Coogler-directed film only fell 11 percent, moving up three slots in the rankings and adding another $4.4 million to its crazy $688 million total here in the United States.
As mentioned, Avengers: Infinity War has some stiff competition coming up later in May... but don't expect it to lose its number one spot any time soon. While this weekend sees the arrival of three new wide releases, including the romantic comedy remake Overboard, the Jason Reitman-directed motherhood drama Tully, and the horror feature Bad Samaritan, none of them will put up numbers anywhere close to the Marvel feature (which should make somewhere in the neighborhood of $125 million). Check back next Sunday to see how it all shakes out!
